America (Simon and Garfunkel)

"Let us be lovers we'll marry our fortunes together."
"I've got some real estate here in my bag."
So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies
And walked off to look for America

"Kathy," I said as we boarded a Greyhound in Pittsburgh
"Michigan seems like a dream to me now
It took me four days to hitchhike from Saginaw
I've gone to look for America."

Laughing on the bus
Playing games with the faces
She said the man in the gabardine suit was a spy
I said "Be careful his bowtie is really a camera"

"Toss me a cigarette, I think there's one in my raincoat"
"We smoked the last one an hour ago"
So I looked at the scenery, she read her magazine
And the moon rose over an open field

"Kathy, I'm lost," I said, though I knew she was sleeping
"I'm empty and aching and I don't know why"
Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike
They've all gone to look for America
All gone to look for America
All gone to look for America

=

AMERICAN BAGGAGE
by
A Peace Soldier, Lost at Basra.

"Let us be soldiers, take flak in the desert together."
"I've got my kitbag, I'm eager to go!"
So we bought a pack of rhetoric, and Mr Bush's lies,
Then took off to fight for America.

"Kenny," I said, as our unit assembled in Basra,
"England seems so far away to me now,
It took me nine hours to get here from Liverpool,
I've come to fight for America."

Mingling in the town,
Playing games with the locals,
You thought a guy on a donkey was Saddam Hussein,
So I joked, "Be careful his horse-whip is really a rifle!"

"Pass me a hand grenade, I think there's one in the tank hatch."
"We chucked the last one an hour ago."
So I looked at my rifle, then I checked my magazine,
As the moon rode over the open sand.

"Kenny, I'm scared too," I said, for I knew he was weeping,
"My rifle is empty, I think we may die,
Look, our attackers are swarming around us ...!"
They've all gone to war on America.
All gone to war on America.
All gone to war on America.